Once upon a time there lived two brother hunters Zhaiyk and Edil. Zhaiyk was the eldest, and Edil was the youngest. With what they got from hunting, they fed the poor and orphans of the entire village. After the first powder, the brothers went hunting in different directions and converged only at the end of the day. One day Zhaiyk, having met his brother in the evening in a hut, told him what happened to him during the day.
“I’ve seen things that will make you wonder.” I was on the trail of a barefoot man. I followed the trail and came into dense thickets of reeds. The trail meandered for a long time, then led to a hut made of reeds. I entered the hut, but there was no one there. I left the hut and, not knowing whether it was a dream or reality, approached the trail again. Apart from my footprint and the footprint of my bare foot, there was nothing around. I entered the hut again and stopped in bewilderment.
“Hey, Zhaiyk! Why did you come here, who are you looking for?” - a voice rang out. I looked around. There was still no one in the hut.
“While hunting, I met the footprints of a barefoot man and came here,” I answered.
“Listen to me, then you will have good luck.” If you don’t listen, the zhalmauyz-kempir will eat you,” the voice rang out again. I loaded the gun and lit the fuse.
“If you’re a poor camper, try to come and eat me,” I prepared.
But no one showed up here either. Then I turned and left.
Edil did not believe his brother.
The next morning the two of them came to that reed, but there was neither a hut nor a trace. And the reeds stood untouched.
“You lied,” said Edil. Zhaiyk assured that everything was true.
Edil loaded all his loot onto his horse and rode to the village. Zhaiyk remained in the steppe. After some time, Edil returned to Zhaiyk, but there was no trace of him. “Maybe he went up,” thought Yedil and walked along the river bank. In a dense dark forest, he killed a kulan and in the evening, having cut up the carcass, put a brisket on a metal pin and began to fry it over the fire. When it got dark, he saw a man running towards him from the direction of the forest, wrapped with his head in a shekpen. The man ran up and sat down by the fire. Edil cut off a piece of brisket and handed it to the stranger. He grabbed the brisket - something clanged.
“You wouldn’t be happy if you didn’t give me meat!” – the man barked and left. Edil, fearing evil, found a log, laid it on the ground and covered it with his shekpen. And he loaded the gun and hid not far away. When the fire died out, the man jumped out of the darkness and, muttering something, rushed to the log. The clang was heard again. Yedil fired. The man waved his arms and fell to the ground. The hunter approached the dead man and saw that all the fingernails of the unknown creature were copper. The buttons on the clothes were gold and silver, and a single eye sparkled on his forehead. It was Zheztyrnak. The hunter cut off the claws of the zheztyrnak and put them in his bag.
Edil stayed in the forest for two more days. And he killed two more zhez-tyrnaks. After this, the hunter returned to the village. He did not tell anyone that he had killed the Zheztyrnaks.
But Zhaiyk never happened.
In the village there lived a man named Kara. Edil came to him and said:
“Zhaiyk and I will hunt, and you will carry the spoils to the village.”
Kara agreed. They went to look for Zhaiyk, searched for a long time, but did not find him. Friends accidentally came across a large herd of sheep. The shepherd was nowhere to be seen. There was a white yurt not far away, the hunters drove up to it.
- Hey, is there anyone in the yurt? - they shouted.
“Come in,” they answered from inside. The hunters dismounted and, taking with them, just in case, weapons, entered the yurt. The door slammed shut behind them. A woman was sitting in the yurt with her back to the door and breastfeeding her child. Without turning around, she said:
– Edil, you killed three of my daughters-in-law. Zhaiyk killed three sons. I cooked the zhaiyk and ate it. I didn't look for you, you came to me yourself. Now I will cut one of you and hang the other.
It was zhalmauyz-kempir. Edil lay in wait for Zhalmauyz-Kempir all night to deal with her. And only in the morning he shot Zhalmauyz-Kempir when she came out of the yurt. Yedil rushed to the yurt, but the door was tightly closed and could not be opened by any force.
Zhalmauyz-Kempir Edil drove all the sheep to the village, distributed them to people and told everything that had happened. He also told about the death of Zhaiyk at the hands of an evil old woman. A wake was organized for Zhaiyk. Bdil said to the people gathered for the wake: “Let’s go to the Zhalmauyz-Kempir yurt and take the rest of the wealth.” But people were afraid and didn’t go. Then Edil went alone and took all the wealth of Zhalmauyz-Kempir.
Two years have passed. Yedil gave his daughter in marriage. The daughter asked her father for a dowry of zhalmauyz-kempir.
“Zhalmauyz has one more daughter left, if you take the sholpas, she will kill you,” the father dissuaded his daughter.
But the girl insisted on her own. And Edil gave in. He immediately punished his daughter so that she would not sleep at night for two or three years.
A lot of time has passed since then. One day, the daughter of Zhalmauyz-Kempir, killing everyone who came across her on the way, came to the village of Edil. At night she went into the yurt of Yedil’s daughter. As soon as Zheztyrnak crossed the threshold, Yedil’s daughter cut the evil spirit’s head with a strong blow. This is how the last daughter of Zhalmauyz-Kempir was killed. Since then, people began to sleep peacefully, acquired a lot of livestock and lived as a friendly family.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru